Celebrating Christmas with the Toll Family

Samantha: 55 Months, Week 3

Aedan: 20 Months, Week 1 (Week 88)

Before our second Christmas celebration in Upland, we had a couple days at home to enjoy together. On Tuesday we invited the Schroers over to for a play date so that Samantha could play with Matteo, Aedan could play with Bennett, and I could talk with Andrea for awhile. It was nice to still spend time at home, but have it be different with friends. Isabelle, Matteo and Bennett's older sister, came over as well, both Samantha and Aedan took to her quickly. Aedan kept bringing books to show her, and Samantha got out her coloring book and markers so that she could color along with her. After awhile, Isabelle, Matteo, and Samantha all went into the play room to play together, closing the door to keep the little boys out so they wouldn't mess up the game they were playing with the play kitchen and little people. We had a good morning of playing together, and I'm glad that we've gotten to know this family over the past year.

It was only 11:15 when the Schroers left, and I felt antsy to get the kids out of the house somewhere they could run around and play, which is difficult to find in Oxford in the wintertime. So, on the spur of the moment, I decided to take the kids out for lunch at Chick-fil-A, mainly so they could climb and play in the play area. They both ate lunch really well for me. In fact, Samantha beat Aedan because she was so excited about going to play. We don't go out for lunch very often, so this was a special treat for us. The last time we went to a Chick-fil-A was probably back in September when we traveled to Chicago for Brielle's birthday, and at that time, Aedan was still learning how to climb and therefore couldn't climb up the play set very well on his own. This time, however, Aedan was climbing all over the place. Samantha was a great big sister and helped him climb up the stairs. She even showed him how to climb into the car or the helicopter and went down the slide with him. It was funny to see how they came down the slide, for one time he was sitting between her legs, another time she came down feet first with Aedan going down head first and they were holding hands in the middle, and at the end he would come down the slide all by himself. I was so proud of him, and he was so proud of himself, that he would smile and clap every time he got to the bottom. They were having such a great time that I hated to stop them from playing, but it was getting late and we needed to get back for nap time. Even though it was a spur of the moment decision, it was a good idea to get out and let the kids play for awhile.

We can get pretty silly at dinnertime in our house, and Tuesday night was one of those times. We had watermelon with our dinner, and when Aedan was trying to pick up a piece once, it slipped out of his hand and went flying across the room. That action made everyone erupt into laughter. And of course, since we all laughed, that made Aedan do it all the more, and Samantha tried to copy him as well. It may have been bad to encourage it that evening because it will probably occur again in the future, but it sure was funny, and now Aedan has learned a new skill. :)

On Wednesday morning we had plans to meet our friends, the Kidds, at the Cincinnati Museum Center. Again, I am so blessed to have a husband with such a flexible work schedule, allowing us to do these types of day trips together over the holiday break. Since it was the day before New Year's Eve, apparently other families had the same idea, for the museum was the busiest we have ever seen it with long lines just waiting to get into the parking lot. However, the kids didn't care and were very excited to see each other and to play and explore in the museum.

We started in the Holiday Junction area and even stopped at the steamboat which we had never noticed before. It's always interesting to see what different kids find interesting because Daniel is a lot more focused, playing with one thing for an extended period of time; whereas Samantha tends to flit from one place to another more. However, all four kids enjoyed riding on the train together.

We listened to the tail end of the Patter and Pogie show again, and Samantha and Daniel got their picture taken with the robotic reindeer. A day or two after seeing these reindeer, Samantha randomly asked me if Patter really was going to learn how to fly like she said she was going to. This somewhat surprised me because I figured she would be able to tell that these were not real reindeer. Normally she is the realist, telling us what is real and what is not.

After finishing our time in the Holiday Junction area, we went upstairs to eat our packed lunches and then went down to the Children's Museum. We started at The Woods where Daniel and Samantha played hide and seek together for a long time. Aedan climbed around in the preschooler area for awhile before I decided to just take him to the area for younger kids where he would have more to play with. He likes playing with the sand and rolling the tennis balls around on the ramps.

After that we played in the water area for quite awhile and both kids got their sleeves so wet having fun in the water. Samantha enjoys finding a whale or an octopus and taking them around in the water, like they are swimming down the river. Aedan likes to play with things to make the water splash and spray around or will hit a clear plastic tube into the water. I got to pretend with Samantha which was fun. She had me put a life jacket on her, and we got in the boats together that are built so you can rock them back and forth slightly. We pretended we were in a bad storm and water was spilling into the boat, getting us all wet. She has a very creative imagination right now and loves to pretend with us. It's by far her favorite way to play right now. She will say "Pretend you..." and tell us what she wants to do. Sometimes it is difficult for me to play along with her because I feel like she has a certain idea in her mind of how she wants to play, or sometimes I feel like I am not creative enough to play along with her. It's definitely something I need to work on in my interactions with Samantha since it is her favorite way to play right now.

We went to the ball area to play for awhile, too before going into the pretend area with the grocery store, house, restaurant, and vet clinic. Although it was getting late in the afternoon and our kids were getting tired and somewhat aimless. They were still having fun, but all the kids were playing in different areas, making it more difficult for the adults to talk with one another. At one point Samantha and I were near the Lego building area, and all of a sudden I looked down and she was gone. At my first look around, I couldn't find her anywhere and I started getting worried. Ben helped me look for her, and we eventually found her in the vet clinic area (which I should have figured because that's where she disappeared to last time as well). We decided it was time to go and used getting ice cream before left as good motivation to leave fun and friends.

We planned to go to Upland to celebrate Christmas over New Year's weekend, so we got packed up on Wednesday night, planning on leaving as soon as we were ready the next morning. We arrived before lunch on New Year's Eve and spent the day hanging out and playing. Everyone else had already arrived, so Samantha and Alaina got right to playing. Aedan was excited to play with all the toys, going straight for the singing Larry Boy toy. He loves all the toys that sing and move at Grandpa and Grandma's house.

Since it was New Year's Eve, we decided that we should join the crowd and stay up until midnight to ring in the new year. (We normally decide it's not worth staying up late when we know our kids will be up early the next day.) Of course, our kids were in bed, but the adults played Ticket to Ride while a football game played in the background. Ben and I were pretty tired, but we made it till midnight and then went to bed, ready for another fun day and our time to celebrate Christmas together.

On Friday mid-morning, Uncle Andrew arrived, and we celebrated our Toll family Christmas. We tried to take turns and go from youngest to oldest, but again, it was hard to pay attention to who was getting what when Samantha and Aedan were all over the place and all they wanted to do was to open all their presents. Upland Grandpa and Grandma, Uncle Timmy, Aunt Jeni, and Uncle Andrew definitely spoiled our kids for Christmas. Here are some pictures from our present opening time that day.

The kids were always very excited to see others open presents and wanted to help open everyone else's presents as well.

One of Samantha's favorite presents was a watch from Uncle Timmy. She has been talking about wanting a watch for a long time, so when Tim asked for more present ideas, we gladly passed that idea along. Do you see the look of happiness on her face as she opens it?

This next video is of Grandma opening the present that Samantha made for her. It is the Elsa statue that she painted at You're Fired in Oxford, and Samantha was SO excited for her to open it and see if she liked it. Grandma did a great job of showing a lot of excitement and making a big deal about this special present. I know Samantha felt good making Grandma so excited.

Aedan got a few fun gifts that make noise like this drum set and a fire engine that moves on it's own.

Ben and I got some gift cards, some Starbucks Christmas blend coffee, a potato masher, an apple peeler/slicer, some socks, and an electric skillet. Samantha got some clip-on earrings, a Light 'n Rev Thomas, Frozen figurines, the Frozen watch and slippers, a bead jewelry kit, pajamas, a book, and a Barbie Saddle 'n Ride Pony. (The horses were definitely the hit of the morning, and the girls couldn't wait to get them out of the box and have them walk around.) Aedan got a pretend vacuum cleaner, a fleece sleep sack, a VTech train set, another remote control car to go with our speedway at home, a flashlight Tonka trunk, a car carrier, and probably other things that I don't even remember. Grandpa even made both kids a wooden truck that holds markers or crayons. It was a wonderful Christmas, and once again we feel so blessed by our family being so generous in their gift giving.

The rest of our time in Upland went by pretty quickly. The girls played with their horses most of the rest of the weekend, and we just enjoyed time together as a family hanging out, playing, talking, and watching a movie together on Friday night. Saturday late morning was a family reunion for Ben's dad's side of the family. Most people I had never even met before, but we had a good lunch and more time for the kids to play. We originally planned on staying through until Sunday, but everyone else was leaving on Saturday afternoon/evening, and since we had a busy week coming up with leaving for Puerto Rico on Wednesday, we decided it would be best to get back home for another day. Plus, Samantha was doing what she typically does in Upland. She's super tired because she doesn't sleep enough, but then she refuses to nap which compounds the problem. It's so frustrating with her sometimes because it seems like this has been happening every time we've come to Upland lately where she won't calm down and let herself sleep which then makes her more disrespectful. We gave her more time outs in those few days that we were there than we do in a whole week or more at home. We know that she gets excited and revved up by being around family that she loves, but it sure would be nice if we could find a way to help deal with her throwing fits and being disrespectful. This whole experience also made me really worried about how things would go next week when the kids come back to Upland for the time that Ben and I will be in Puerto Rico. I hope that Samantha behaves better for Grandma and isn't hard to deal with like she is for us sometimes.

It was a good idea for us to come back after the get together on Saturday. We left pretty late, about 3:45, so both kids were pretty tired. Aedan passed out right away and slept most of the way back. Samantha took a little while to fall asleep, like she usually does, and then only slept for like fifteen minutes because she woke up when we stopped at a stop sign. However, she did a great job just sitting quietly in the car seat for the rest of the trip until Aedan woke up as well. She's pretty respectful most of the time, so I have to remember that during the times when she isn't as respectful and I feel frustrated.

Sunday was a good catch-up day for us. We went to church in the morning, and then I was able to get all the Christmas decorations taken down and put away. I felt like I really accomplished a lot that day, as I wanted to get them down before we left for Puerto Rico so that I didn't have that hanging over my head for when we return. The kids both took really long naps that afternoon, so you could tell that they were trying to catch up on some missed sleep from our time in Upland.

Then, Monday was a pretty normal routine again with Samantha going back to preschool after having a two week break. I was invited over to Stephanie's house for a play date, so that was fun for Aedan to be able to play with other kids. Aedan and Isaac get along pretty well and are silly together. For example, several times over the course of the morning, they both went into the bathroom together and Isaac locked them in. One time they even unrolled the entire toilet paper roll. Silly boys! They certainly keep us on our toes.

And to end this post, here is a picture of the kids sitting together watching a show after their naps. Aedan loves to join Samantha on the couch. He even has picked up on the fact that she usually gets to pick candy to eat after nap time. He will run out into the kitchen and point to the cabinet where we keep the candy until we get some for him.

It was free week at the Rec Center at Miami, so we decided to take advantage of a chance to go swimming for free. Samantha LOVES the water, loves jumping in and putting her head under the water. Aedan has fun, but he is a little more unsure about it than Samantha is. He doesn't like to get water in his ears, and he gets cold easily since he is not moving around on his own yet. We put a life jacket on him just to help him bob in the water a little easier. His favorite thing to do in the pool is to dunk the basketball; however, that evening they were doing swim lessons in the area of the pool with the basketball hoop, so he was a little upset that he couldn't do that for fun and didn't understand why we weren't letting him. There were lots of other kids in the pool as well, and the kids had good, long naps that afternoon, so we stayed swimming until close to 8:00 p.m. It was a fun family night together, and I'm so glad that we can take advantage of these free days whenever we can.

(Blog about December 29, 2014-January 4, 2015)

Celebrating Christmas

Samantha: 55 Months, Week 2

Aedan: 19 Months, Week 4

Christmastime is my favorite time of year. I love the music, the lights, the special activities, and the extra family time. It's nice that Ben has more flexibility at this time of year, allowing me to do special things like taking Samantha to The Nutcracker Ballet in Cincinnati. I got these tickets right around Thanksgiving, so I had been looking forward to taking her to see if for a month now. The ballet company was putting on the first sensory friendly performance designed mostly for special needs kids and families that would never normally be able to attend a regular performance. However, when I called they said that we could come as well as long as we knew that the lights would be up higher, that people would be able to get up and down whenever they wanted, and also there might more possible noise in the auditorium. However, at $20 a ticket, there was no way I was going to pass this opportunity up. Ben was able to stay home with Aedan that morning so that I could have this special Mommy/Daughter date with Samantha. We don't get to do much with just the two of us anymore, and she was so excited on Tuesday morning when I told her our plans for the day.

We arrived in plenty of time to get parked and walk to the Aronoff Center. They had ballerinas around in the lobby for kids who wanted to pose for pictures. Samantha loved seeing them all dressed up in their tutus and pointe shoes. Do you see this smile on her face? She was SO excited.

They had some other ballerinas teaching kids how to dance. Samantha was a little timid joining in at first, but then she got right into the dancing. She was having a wonderful time dancing with the other kids and copying the ballerina moves.

After that it was getting close to showtime so we took a bathroom break before heading towards our seats. However, as we were walking, a man stopped us and asked Samantha if she would want to help him with something. He opened up a box in the wall and showed Samantha what button he wanted her to press. Then, when he gave her the signal, she was to push the button that would ring a bell that would signal everyone to find their seats in the auditorium. Samantha thought that was pretty special. We had tickets in the middle of the fourth row which was wonderful. We could see the stage so well, and she couldn't wait for it to start.

I have seen The Nutcracker several times since graduating college. Once in Austin as a Christmas present from Ben and then a few times in Bloomington. We took Samantha to see The Nutcracker at IU when she was two and a half, and we reference the story a lot so she knows the general plot line of the ballet, but she probably doesn't remember much about it from back then. It's always interesting to see the variety of interpretations that different ballet companies can take on the basic story line. The party scene at the beginning was fun, and I especially like the part where the grandparents do a dance together. This time they were touched by magic and did a little hip hop dance, followed by hobbling around once the magic wore off. It's great how they throw little moments of humor in different places.

The battle between the mice and the soldiers is always amusing, too. They even had remote control mice rolling around on the stage.

I love the sets used in The Nutcracker. The dancing is beautiful, the music is beautiful, and I get so caught up in it all. Samantha thought the dancing snowflakes and the pretend snow falling from the ceiling was fascinating.

Here is what Samantha looked like for most of the show. She has a little booster seat to help her see, I let her take her shoes off so that she could sit more comfortably, and she could not take her eyes off he ballerinas on the stage.

It was good to have a little break between acts to stretch our legs and use the bathroom. One usher even let a couple kids (including Samantha) run up and down the ramps to get out some energy before the second act. The second act is full of various acts and the changes of characters and costumes and props that helped to hold Samantha's attention. There were lots of interesting things like the dragon chasing the man...

...the chicken laying eggs, which were little kids dressed up as chicks...

...and of course the Waltz of the Flowers. Samantha's favorite part of this dance was the little kids dressed as bees that came to pollinate the flowers. They were attached to strings and flew in from the sides. Then, they were lowered down to the middle of the ballerinas dressed like flowers, almost like they were pollinating them. Samantha just cracked up during that part of the ballet.

Besides the bees, Uncle Drosselmeyer also flew around at the beginning when fighting off the rats and when the Nutcracker and Clara flew away to the land of sweets and back they rode in a hot air balloon. Samantha thought that part was pretty awesome, too. Here are some pictures from the end of the show when all the dancers came out on stage to take a bow.

Samantha and I had such a great time together watching The Nutcracker. She got a little wiggly towards the end, but that is to be expected after watching a show for almost two hours. We then walked a couple blocks away to eat lunch at Panera. She was getting pretty tired by that point, but we had a great morning on our date in Cincinnati.

While I was with Samantha in Cincinnati, Ben hung out with Aedan. He took him to the tot gym at the TRI so that he could run around and play. There were a few other kids his age there, and he had fun playing with balls and being with his daddy. I know Ben enjoys this one on one time with Aedan because he doesn't get to spend time with just him very often. It was great for each of us to show individual attention to our kids that morning.

After a busy morning, we had a busy rest of the day, too. Both kids took good naps while I went out with my friend Maggie for coffee. We hadn't talked in awhile, so I figured I'd take advantage of the fact that Ben was home from campus. Then, in the evening we had our community group Christmas get together. We went over to the Chagdes' house for dinner, the kids got to play with each other, and the adults got to talk and hang out. It really was a nice evening together, Stephanie was sweet enough to get a small present for each of the kids to open, and she even made a cake so that we could all sing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus. By the end of the night, it was getting close to 8:00, and our kids were starting to lose it. It had been a long, busy day for Samantha, and she has been having trouble lately with transitions. When it was time for us to leave, even though she was given many warnings, she freaked out and threw a fit, refusing to listen to us, whining, and crying. It is so frustrating to me that she's been like this lately because she is one of the oldest kids there and sometimes acts like she's the youngest with how emotional she is. It's almost embarrassing to me because we don't know what to do to help her handle her emotions better. She overreacts a lot more when she's tired, but we do everything we can to get her enough sleep, but sometimes it seems like we can't do anything "extra" with her right now. If she misses her nap, or if we are out close to her bedtime, she just can't handle herself. Ben and I are really struggling with her behavior right now and don't know quite what to do about it. If any of you reading this have any experience with a four and a half year old acting this way, I would greatly appreciate any wisdom on the subject. I know I've written about this a lot lately, but it hasn't seemed to improve at all, leaving Ben and I very frustrated and exhausted by it.

This week was full of big days and big plans. On Wednesday, to Samantha's surprise, we told her that Grandpa, Grandma, and Alaina were going to be coming to our house to visit for the day. She was so excited that she squealed! There was some talk about meeting at the Children's Museum in Indianapolis, but that is over a two hour drive for us, and I decided that would just be too much. We needed to just have a day at home, I needed to get the cleaning done, and I knew the girls would have fun playing together at our house. The girls don't get the chance to go to each other's houses very often, so that was a special treat for both. However, even though Samantha's schedule wasn't that different and she was still sleeping in her own bed in her own room, she couldn't settle herself down to sleep. Alaina took awhile to fall asleep as well, but at least she let herself take a nap. I just can never understand how Samantha can resist sleeping when she is so clearly tired, as evidenced by her behavior, but she is just too wound up to let herself sleep and then makes the rest of the day difficult because she didn't get the rest she needed. This phase is certainly difficult, and I am ready for it to pass. Sometimes I feel like Samantha is more work than Aedan, even though she's the older one.

Thursday was Christmas Eve and we had a family day planned before my family began to arrive that evening. We wrapped presents for each other, and Samantha even helped Daddy make buckeyes. She had to go get her apron before she could help so that she could be just like a real chef. Daddy is really good at getting Samantha involved in helping in the kitchen, and she loves to be helpful. I think it's wonderful that he's teaching her how to cook and bake already for I never learned how to do any of these things until I was out on my own and had to teach myself. I love this picture of Ben and Samantha together. She loves having her Daddy around more. :)

And what was Aedan doing during this time? He was just wandering around the house playing, making music with the drum from Guatemala.

That evening we went to the Christmas Eve service at our church. It is a family service, so all the kids are in the sanctuary as well. Ben left with Aedan last year, so it was my turn this year. I tried to keep him in the sanctuary for as long as possible. The songs kept his interest for awhile, and he really enjoyed watching the drummer play. Samantha liked hearing all the adults singing and they even sang a couple songs that she knew the words to. Once the pastor came up to speak, I took that as my cue to leave with Aedan so that he wouldn't get too disruptive. He went out in the lobby to walk around for awhile and eventually went downstairs to the nursery to play with toys. The sermon was only about twenty minutes long, so we were able to go back up after a little while for singing "Silent Night" while holding our lit candles. Aedan understood the candle was hot and didn't try to touch it too much. Both kids looked around the sanctuary in wonder at all the shining candles. I love that we have been home the last two Christmases so that we can celebrate Jesus' birth by going to church and being together as a family.

We had a yummy potato soup in the crock pot and homemade bread for dinner that night once we got home from church. Then, we got everything set up and ready for Uncle Matthew, Aunt Christy, and Brielle to arrive. They arrived at our house a little after 7:15, and Samantha was SO excited to see Brielle. She loves playing with her, sometimes too much, because Brielle isn't used to having someone loud and crazy in her face all the time. It was fun for the kids to be able to interact and play with each other for a little while before it was time for bed. Matthew, Christy, and Brielle slept in Aedan's room so that Brielle could use the crib and there is plenty of room for an air mattress in that room. We debated what to do with our kids because in the past Aedan hasn't done as well in the pack and play in our room. He sometimes wakes up during the night or earlier in the morning, and if he knows we are in the room with him, he won't go back to sleep, which is no fun for anyone involved. We thought of setting up Aedan's pack and play in Samantha's room, but then we have the same problem of both of them potentially impacting the sleep of the other. So what we decided to do is to have Aedan sleep in his pack and play in Samantha's room and then move Samantha's mattress on the floor in our room since she sleeps better in the room with us. It made everything a little crowded and disheveled, but it worked out well, and I think it was the best solution. Maybe next year, when Aedan is a little older, it will work better for the two of them to share a room together.

We were a little concerned about how early Samantha would wake up on Christmas morning. To say that she was excited about Christmas would be an understatement. For at least the last week, she has asked every morning when she wakes up whether it Christmas that day or not. This is the first year the anticipation of the day was real for her, so when she woke up shortly after 6:00 a.m., we were a little afraid. I told her it wasn't anywhere near time to get up yet and that she needed to go back to sleep. Normally when we tell her that, she doesn't actually go back to sleep. However, surprisingly, she actually did on this day, sleeping until after 7:30, which is good for her even on a normal day, let alone on Christmas morning. Matthew, Christy, and Brielle always sleep in much longer than we do, especially since it is an hour later for them anyways, so Samantha knew she would have to be patient and wait for everyone to wake up before we'd be ready to open presents. Here is a video and picture of Samantha coming down on Christmas morning. The video is pretty dark, but you can see the smile on her face and the way that she just stares at the presents and the tree as she is still trying to wake up.

Aedan slept in for awhile longer, and then we brought him down as well. We had the stockings hanging on knobs of the entertainment center, and Aedan went to those first before noticing all the presents piled up under the Christmas tree. I like how he shifts back and forth on his feet excitedly in the middle of the video and has a cute little grin on his face. Even though he doesn't really understand, he knew there was something different and exciting about this day.

Ben made yummy pecan cinnamon rolls for breakfast that we all enjoyed before everyone was up and ready to open presents together. It was a little crazy with three kids all taking turns opening presents, making it difficult to tell who was getting what from who, but the kids were very excited about their presents. Here are some pictures from our morning.

Aedan got a cleaning kit which I knew he would be really excited about. He loves using my broom and Swiffer things, so I figured he would particularly enjoy having his own cleaning tools all to himself. He couldn't wait to get it out of the box so that he could play with it.

Samantha got a whole pack of different colored play-doh as well as a play-doh kit from Aunt Christy and Uncle Matthew, which at the time wasn't too exciting to her, but I knew she would like it once she had the chance to sit down and play with it later.

This is a video of me opening up my present from Samantha. Daddy took her to pick it out because Samantha had been wanting to buy jewelry for me for some time now. He said she spent a long time looking at the various jewelry, and even though he had to steer Samantha away from a few things that weren't quite my style, she picked them out all by herself and was so excited to see me open them. She bought me beautiful colored bead dangle earrings and a silver necklace with two hearts with inscriptions about mothers and daughters. It was a sweet and thoughtful present, and I think it's very special that Samantha can help pick out meaningful presents like this now, and that she is so very excited to give them.

This is just a great picture of all three kids in action, opening and enjoying their presents on Christmas morning. I am a firm believer of opening and enjoying presents as you go along, taking your time with opening the presents, rather than just rushing through and keeping everything in the box until the end. Kids just don't understand when things come in a box and they get to unwrap it without taking it out and getting a chance to play with it.

This next present shows Aedan's favorite present by far: the guitar from Aunt Christy and Uncle Matthew. Again, he couldn't wait to get it out of the box so that he could play it. I also love that Brielle is enjoying her new book, dancing and bouncing to the music. Celebrating Christmas with the joy and excitement of little kids is just a great experience

Once Aedan began to play his guitar, the smile on his face was priceless, and for that moment on he hardly put the guitar down all day. I knew he would like it, but I had no idea that he would love it this much. This little boy loves music. He loves to listen to it, to play it, to dance to it, and hopefully he will enjoy it when he grows up as well.

Ben and I got Samantha this Super Why board game because she really enjoys the show on PBS Kids, and it also encourages reading skills like alphabet letters and sounds, rhyming, and even reading sight words. I thought this would be a good addition to her game collection.

This next present was our big present to Aedan. It is a race track with a remote control car. I know Samantha will really enjoy it as well, and it may take Aedan a little while to get the hang of it, but really, most presents are things that both kids can enjoy and play with together. We had more plans for accessories to this vtech toy that Aedan would receive from both sets of grandparents, so I hope it is something that will grow with the kids and be enjoyed for a long time.

Samantha's big present from us was a new Lego building kit. She has some Lego Duplos that she has really enjoyed building with, and we went back and forth about getting her more Duplos or moving up to the next step of Legos, which are called Lego Junior. We picked a set with a castle (even with a jail and a skeleton), knights, a horse, a carriage, a catapult with cannon balls, as well a many extra Legos to be creative and build whatever interests you. She can come up with some pretty creative things, and we wanted to give her more of a challenge with the smaller, more intricate Legos. They can still build on top of the Duplos she already has, giving her even more to work with. I was excited to get it out and build with her.

Ben and I got the Legos and Super Why game for Samantha, as well as an Eric Carle Play-a-sound book and vtech race car set for Aedan. In their stockings they had some skittles in a candy cane, a small tube of mini M&Ms, and a few candy canes. Also, Samantha had a travel jewelry box that I got for free from a white elephant gift exchange, as well as a battery-operated train named Diesel for her to use on her wooden train tracks. In Aedan's stocking he also had a foam football and a pretend cell phone that lights up and plays music (since he is always trying to play with our phones). Aedan got Samantha a box of new puzzles, and Samantha got Aedan a Melissa & Doug pretend grill set with vegetables to cut up and put on skewers. Aedan and Daddy bought me a new pair of sweatpants (I know, how exciting, right?), and Samantha and I got Daddy a new sweater and pair of jeans. Aedan also got a dump truck and some shoes that Aunt Christy picked out using Grandma Donna's money. Ben and I didn't get anything for each other because our present to each other is going to be a fun excursion in Puerto Rico when we travel there for Ben's conference. It was a wonderful morning with lots of fun presents. We are blessed with kind and generous family and money from the Lord to bless our family with special gifts.

We spent the rest of the morning playing with new toys and enjoying our time together before it was time for lunch and nap time. Brielle went right to sleep, but Aedan just would not settle down. He fell asleep with me, but then as soon as I tried to lay him down, he sat right up in bed and started crying when I left the room. Both Ben and I went in to try to get him to sleep, but to no avail. He went to sleep fine in Samantha's room the night before, but I think it was weird for him this afternoon because it was lighter and he could see more around Samantha's room. Eventually, Ben had the idea to bring a chair up to Samantha's room so that he could sit and rock Aedan to sleep, and he finally fell asleep. He only slept for an hour and half, but at least some sleep was better than nothing at all. Samantha was too revved up by all the family and all the presents to go to sleep, so she ended up not napping at all. It was a stressful nap time for Ben and me trying to get our kids to sleep as well as trying to prepare for our Christmas dinner that evening.

Chicago Grandpa and Grandma and Uncle Matt arrived at the house during nap time. Ben and I planned on having our Christmas dinner of ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, salad, and bread around 5:30, but for some reason the ham was taking longer to cook then we had planned, so that just gave us extra time to hang out and play. I like this picture with Samantha and Aedan both listening intently to Grandma reading a book. And of course, Aedan has his guitar in his hand. He literally walked around most of the day carrying and playing with his guitar. Even though it's a full house, I love having my whole family here for a weekend. We don't have many opportunities for all of us to have this much time with one another all in one location, and I am so glad that we have a big enough place to host everyone.

After a yummy Christmas dinner, it was time for Christmas present opening, round two. Once again, with even more people, it was a bit more chaotic trying to keep the kids focused and to still take time to see what everyone was getting. Here are some pictures of our time that night. I won't list everything, but the kids got some fun things like a Sofia play-doh kit...

... and a sleep sack, which was needed, but probably not too exciting to Aedan.

Here's a picture of the Clemons family. Brielle got some fun gifts as well like blocks and magnet letters.

I didn't take too many pictures while we opened presents, but again, we got some great things. Samantha got a Talking Victor as well as a battery operated James, a Lego building plate, and the Mouse Trap board game. Aedan got more accessories for his vtech track, a Sesame Street music player story book, and probably other things I don't remember. Both kids got a marble run, which they will really enjoy playing with together.

After getting everything unwrapped and cleaned up, it was getting close to 8:00, but we still hadn't had dessert, and Samantha definitely wouldn't let us forget about that. We made pumpkin pie and apple pie, and it all tasted very good. It was so fun seeing Brielle and Aedan together because they could interact with each other so much more. It was getting late and the kids were tired and getting slap happy, so I got this cute video of Brielle and Aedan waving to me.

Saturday was a much more low-key day, which I appreciated. Both kids slept in until past 7:30 and were in much better moods when they woke up. We had a yummy breakfast casserole for breakfast, played with some of our new toys, and then made a trip to the library to get out of the house for awhile. It was fun for my family to see the new library and to check out some new readers for Samantha. We picked up pizza to eat for lunch before getting our kids down for good naps, which went much better than the previous day. Samantha was tired enough that she went right to sleep and went right to sleep, and Aedan did much better going to sleep with a chair to sit in with him. While the kids napped, we played a game of Ticket to Ride and had a nice relaxing afternoon.

That evening was full of more family time spent together with eating soup and bread, playing with play-doh after dinner, and watching a movie together once the kids were all in bed. Here are some pictures and videos from our evening together.

To end the night, the kids played the chase game with the push toys, one of Samantha's and Aedan's favorite games, but this time Brielle got to join in as well. It was so fun watching them all run around together.

Then, it was time to take a bath and get the kids in bed at a decent time. We decided to have Brielle join Samantha and Aedan for bath time, but she didn't have a great nap that day, was very tired, and was not much in the mood for playing in the bath with her rambunctious cousins. Samantha and Aedan enjoyed it nevertheless.

The rest of the weekend went by quickly and smoothly with going to church on Sunday morning, having tostadas for lunch, and then saying good-bye to Uncle Matthew, Aunt Christy, and Brielle. They figured it would be best to get on the road before nap time so that Brielle could nap in the car. We got things reorganized some at home so that Aedan could sleep back in his crib and Samantha could sleep back in her room for nap time. It was nice for them to get back to their normal routine and get a good nap in after a busy, full weekend. Grandpa, Grandma, and Uncle Matt stayed until just after Samantha woke up from her nap and then headed home themselves. Aedan took a nice, long nap, and you could tell that he was glad to be back in his bed again. We decided to go to Chipotle for dinner once he woke up so that we could relax together as just the four of us again and not have to cook and clean up another meal.

On Monday Ben planned to go back to work so that he could get good work done on his papers for the conference, and after a busy few days we just needed some good time at home. We played with Aedan's race track and Samantha's trains, and I got some laundry and other things done around the house. We had a good Christmas with all of my family, and I'm so glad that everyone was able to make the drive down. This is now our second time hosting Christmas, and I hope that we can host for many years to come.

(Blog about December 22-28, 2015)